Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-11-06
FOR MERCY.
THE TIDE OF OPINION TURNING.
Leading Citizens Call For a COmmuatOn Of
Sentences.
CAPT. BLACKS UNTIRING EFFORTS.
viii Gov. 0glssby Interfere With the Courts
Decree?

CHICAGO, November 5.-Day after day
names of prominent citizens who have
hitherto been emphatic in their demand
for the inHictiou of the extreme penalty OF
the law on the condemned Anarchists ap-
pear attached TO petitions for commuta-
tion.
Among these the names OF eminent
members of the bar and bench attract the
most attention.
A reporter requested several of the legal
lights to give their reasons for signing the
petitions. W. c. Goudy said:
These men are guilty; there is no doubt
of that. They are guilty of murder, but it
must be remembered that this is not case
OF ordinary physical assassination. The
question is whether they should be pun
iShed to the full extent of the law. This
is the 6rst time that question has come up
since the jury decided it. Judge Gary
might have passed upon it in denying Il
new trial, but did not. The Supreme Court
of the State simply declared that there was
no legal error in the record of that trial and
the Supreme Court of the United States de-
clared that there was no legal ground upon
which they could take up and review the
trial. Ii comes now for the Governor to de-
eide whether OF not the extreme penalty
should be meted out to these men.
at may be urged in their favor that
they had often before talked more violent
ly than they did at the Haymarket meet
ing. The Mayor Of the city, its highest
officer, was appealed to TO suppress their
talk aud stop their paper, but he refused,
insisting that
THEY HAD RIGHT
to talk and write that way. This gave
them kind of license for the talk the
night of the murder. 1t is a question of
public policy, and / am certain that the
execution OF these men is not the way to
suppress AnarChistic ideas or SocialistiC
tendencies among the masses. My idea is
that they should be sent to Joliet for life,
put into stripes, and treated simply as
common felOns. These men are honest in
their declaration that they would rather
DG nuuk lAlau oChN " VI lobu lhC- 1uC
point is that they will be robbed OF all
the romance, the sentimentality, the eX-
altatiOn of martyrdom."
Ex-senator Trumbull said: 81 am not
taking an active part in this matter, but |
signed the petition because | thought it
best. | was not at all satisfied with the
manner in which the trial of the Anarch-
lists was conducted. II took place at
time of great public excitement, when il
was about impossible that they should have
a tair and impartial trial 4 terrible crime
had been committed which was attributed
to the Anarchist, and in some respects
the trial had the appearance Of trial Of
an organization known as Anarchists ra.
ther than of persons indicted for the muir
der of Deegan. Several of the condemned
men were not at the meeting when the
bomb was thrown, and none of them, as
| understand, was directly connected with
It's throwing. The condemned claim. how
ever enormously, to be the
ADVOCATES OF A PRINCIPLE,
and to execute them would. in my judg-
ment, be bad policy. 1t will be claimed
for them that they are executed as martyrs
to a cause, while if put in prison they
will soon be forgotten"
Judge Morgan said his reasons for sign
ing the petition were similar to those OF
Ex. Senator Trumbull. at is now simply
a question of public policy" he said,
whether these men should he hanged.
Mere pity for the men cuts no figure. 1t is
not customary to hang a fellow in this
country for talking The sentiment is to
let him talk, that the people will be all
right anyhow. Besides, will it pay to al
low those men to become martyrs? Among
the laboring and middle classes will it not
give rise to the belief, untOunded though
it may be, that man Of wealth can say
what he pleases, but if y laborer or labOr's
mouth-piece talks he will be hanged?
Many acts as we'll as statements are mis-
construed and developed into far-reaching
consequences
The reasons given By these gentlemen
seem TO voice the sentiments of the major
ity OF the petitioners.
Late last night Nina Van Zandt and her
mother called on Captain Schaak and Offi-
GERS at the Chicago avenue station. Mrs.
Van Zandt exhibited a petition TO Gov
ernor OgleSby asking for Communication OF
the sentence of the Anarchists, and asked
the Captain to sign it, She pleaded with
him tor over twenty minutes, but the
doughty police official declined to attach
his signature. Nina asked and obtained
permission 10 solicit the officers in the
station for their names, but failed To sc.
cure a single one. Before leaving she dis
tributed number OF Trumbul's PAM
phlets, WAS 1t Fair Trial?" and left
lot of them on the Sergeant's desk, bnt at
CAPTAIN Schaak's command they were
promptly consigned to the waste basket
as soon "a she left the building.
George Francis Train this morning invit-
ed the wives and children Of the Anarchists
TO meet him ut dinner at the Palmer
House this afternoon. He said: They
would not let me give the Anarchists
banquet, but want the members of the
members of the press to meet the wives
and children Of the martyrs snd see how
they conduct themselves When shown
the invitation Mrs. Parsons said she would
accent il and do her best to induce the
others to come. After the dinner Mr..
Train will call upon the Mayor and Chief
of Police. He will speak tonight at
Mendoza, and will return TO Chicago Mon
day.
SENTIMENT AMONG THE POLICE.
Now that there seems to he a stampede
in the direction OF Communication OF the SEN
tence of the convicted Anarchists, it may
be well to mention what effect it has al
ready had in very important section Of
the community. In the police force al
ready q feeling akin TO dismay has arisen.
A veteran officer voiced the general senti-
ment of the force, this morning, when he
said ''If these men are allowed to tri-
umph over law, through meddlesome in
tsryention of people, to save
whose lives and property We
risked our own on that awful
night of May 4 You will find that the
police force of Chicago will never light an
other battle with Chicago Anarchists. 1t
is all very we'll to say it is a terrible thing
10 take seven human lives, but say it is
~, kha in, xrh hiah